PCMR v. Talisker: a loan suddenly draws attention

Attorneys disagree about the relevance of the money to the lawsuit

A late-December document filed in the lawsuit between Park City Mountain Resort and its landlord, Talisker Land Holdings, LLC, indicates there was a loan made to PCMR by one of the resort's major figures.

The document, submitted by the Talisker Land Holdings, LLC side, does not provide details, and attorneys for the two sides this week declined to discuss the loan. It is not clear when the loan was extended and how the money was to be used. Attorneys indicated that information about the loan has been deemed confidential.

Alan Sullivan, who is the lead attorney for the PCMR side, said the loan is not important to the merits of the case. John Lund, the attorney who is leading the Talisker Land Holdings, LLC side, said he wants to continue learning details. Lund said knowledge of the existence of the loan is relatively recent in the case.

According to a Dec. 31 filing in 3rd District Court, the loan was addressed during the Dec. 17 deposition of Ian Cumming, who is a member of the board of directors of PCMR parent Powdr Corp. The Talisker Land Holdings, LLC side submitted the Dec. 31 filing to schedule the depositions of two firms tied to PCMR. Those depositions are set for Thursday, and the filing indicates the loan will be a topic during the questioning.

The filing says the deposition on Friday could address any loans from Cumming, or firms in which he has a role, to companies with ties to PCMR between 1994 and the present. It indicates loans could have been made through Cumming's son, John Cumming.

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The younger Cumming is the CEO of Powdr Corp.

Other topics in the upcoming deposition could include PCMR's internal assessments of the value of the terrain it leases from Talisker Land Holdings, LLC and internal assessments of the value of PCMR's base, according to the filing.

In an objection to the Dec. 31 filing, the PCMR side challenges Talisker Land Holdings, LLC's attempt to learn more about the loan. The objection, also filed in 3rd District Court, says the topic is "vague, ambiguous, and overbroad" and says 1994 was more than 10 years prior to the lease dispute that led to the lawsuit.

"Any loans that may or may not have been made by Ian Cumming, or by a company with which Mr. Cumming is affiliated, to John Cumming or any company with which he is affiliated is not relevant" to the case, the objection says.

The objection challenges other pieces of information Talisker Land Holdings, LLC is seeking in the deposition.

The PCMR side, meanwhile, on Wednesday took the deposition of a firm called Flera LLC. The firm controls the development rights at Canyons Resort. In its notice of the Flera LLC deposition, the PCMR side indicated it wanted to learn about topics like Flera LLC's relationship to the Talisker corporate family and its involvement in the Talisker-Vail Resorts agreement to operate Canyons Resort.

The lawsuit centers on PCMR's lease of Talisker Land Holdings, LLC acreage underlying most of the resort's terrain. PCMR sees the case as critical to its survival, saying it renewed the lease and was denied a right of first refusal when the Talisker-Vail Resorts deal was reached since that operations agreement could be extended to include the PCMR terrain depending on the outcome of the case. Talisker Land Holdings, LLC has filed a counterclaim.

The discovery phase of the lawsuit is scheduled to be completed on Friday. Discovery is a critical part of a lawsuit when the attorneys take depositions of figures on the other side and obtain documents.